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Lost cause?

12 February, 2004

astragal

A headline in the Mail on Sunday reads: 'Charles gives up the fight on carbuncles'. Ten years ago, the Prince of Wales made front-page headlines with his attack on the architectural profession. Now the activities of his architectural campaign are reduced to an item on the gossip page, albeit the lead item with a rather big headline. According to columnist Adam Helliker, the Prince has 'shocked his staff by ordering the closure of one of his pet projects, the Institute of Civil Architecture', founded in 1992. The piece goes on to say that Charles has lost his zeal for architectural reform, that financial backers will be disappointed and that it is all his fault. This latter view is endorsed by no less an authority than Gavin Stamp, life president of the 20th Century Society, who is currently researching at Cambridge University. He tells the paper that the institute's closure 'is all down to the ineptitude, vacillation and weakness of Prince Charles'. He continues:

'He allowed directors to come and go while he remained in the pocket of courtiers and Camilla's circle. Since the institute moved to that building in Shoreditch, it's been a shadow of its former self. There is so much blood on the floor of that place and it's the Prince's fault.' Deary me.

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